Love Lost Love Gained
by Norrington'sLady
Summary: AU: Edward doesn't come back in New Moon. Ten years have passed, and Bella has finally faced the facts and decided that it is time to move on. She settles down into an unhappy marriage. What happens when Edward comes back? EdwardBella.


**A/N- **I have absolutely loved the Twilight books for a while, so I figured it was about time that I wrote a fanfic based on them. I hope my idea hasn't been done before.

**Disclaimer- **The characters of this story belong to Stephanie Meyer.

**Summary- **AU: Edward does not come back in the end of New Moon! After Edward leaves Bella in Forks, making her believe that he no longer wants her, she moves on. Now, years later, Bella is a twenty-eight year old aspiring novelist living in a loveless marriage. What happens when someone from her past, someone she never dared to dream she'd see again, comes back into her life?

**Chapter One: Vampire Tears**

Why had he done it? What on earth had possessed him? Yes, he had thought it was right at the time. Yes, it was probably what was best for her. Yes, she had lived a safe and normal life since he left.

But that didn't make him feel less empty inside, didn't ease his aching heart.

Edward had survived without Bella for ten years now. It hadn't been easy. No, not easy at all. There were times when he had seriously considered doing whatever it took to send him into that dark, eternal sleep. He hadn't cared what would happen to him after he died. He hadn't cared if he had a soul or not. At those times it took everyone of his family members to bring him back from the brink of madness. And even after they had him almost back to his old self- 'almost' because Edward knew he could never be the same as he used to be without _her_- he still knew he was more than a little insane.

Finally, he had had to come back. He longed to see her again. To hear her voice. To smell her oh so unique scent. He could no longer survive that horrid, empty shell he foolishly had tried to call a life. How could there be life for him when she wasn't there filling his day with brightness and, more importantly, love? He knew it was time to stop fooling himself, thinking that he could live on.

So it was back to Forks, he went. His family advised against it. He supposed they must have expected something like this. But so blinded he was by his excitement and need to be with her again, he didn't even consider the possibility.

Bella was no longer Bella Swan.

Edward didn't think that vampires often cried, but that was exactly what he was doing as he sat in a tree outside of her house, looking into her window. Tears of anguish and pain rolled down his pale, beautiful cheeks. Why hadn't he stayed with her?

Bella was now Bella Thompson.

It all seemed so foolish in hindsight. He could have protected her if he had stayed. He realized that now. He could have had her, and she still would have been safe. They both would have won. Now, she had moved on, and he was the biggest loser of all. He wondered if he just should have stayed gone. Would his life have been any less painful had he not known about this?

Then _he _walked into the room, and Edward's mouth twisted into a snarl. Jonathan Thompson. Bella's husband. Edward wanted to go in and rip him apart right there, but he remained sitting on the branch.

Jonathan was one of Fork's newest cops, so he had heard while eavesdropping a bit. The story went that Charlie had introduced him to Bella thinking that he would be good for her. Well, Charlie had gotten his wish. Bella and Jonathan had been married for four years now.

Edward couldn't tear his eyes away from the two of them as they sat down at their table to eat. Even as the pain ripped through his chest like a dozen hot knifes, he couldn't force himself to look in the other direction. It was a spectacle to terrible not to stare at.

She was still beautiful. No, the ten years he had been away from her had made her look even better than she always had. Her dark hair fell down her back in thick waves. He gazed longingly at the way one of the silken strands nestled in her creamy white neck. He watched as she spoke, and he wanted nothing more than to take her into his arms and kiss those full lips until she was senseless. Time had been good to Bella.

How could he have been so stupid?

He told himself that if she was happy then he should be too. He wanted the best for her even if that meant that she was no longer with him. But he couldn't make himself believe that she was happy without him. He was probably fooling himself. She was married; of course she was over him. But he didn't want to think that. If he thought that he didn't know how he would go on…. He didn't know how he would go on anyway. Again, he tried to convince himself that he should be glad that she had been able to move on with her life. That had been what he wanted, right? He had wanted her to find someone who was good for her, who could keep her safe.

But even as he tried to convince himself, the tears still fell.

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**A/N- **Sorry that was so short. This is just an introductory chapter. Hopefully, I'll have the next one out soon. Hint: I'll probably have it out faster if you all review ; )


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